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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Albert – He was my classmate. I was all of five and his
accented hindi and pretty blue eyes
were more than enough for me to share my lunch with him and rescue him from the
big bullies in the class. But long before I realised a year flew by and Albert
flew back to England.

Status – I lost him.

P.S. I don’t remember his full name but I do sincerely hope
that someday he becomes famous and I look him up the wikepedia and they say
that his early childhood was spent in India. That’d be my first cue!

Nancy – My imaginary best friend in class 4. And Surprise! Surprise!
She was a British National too. She was very pretty, popular and spoke with an
accent. But soon before I knew my colonial hangover subsided and she had to
leave (as imaginary friends can be that way sometimes.)

Status – I lost her

.

Mrs Gauri– My 5th
grade English teacher- now I was never the brightest of the bulbs in my class- neither
did I fit in too well- it was a new school for me. And I am sure you know how
dreadful new schools can be? But she was the first teacher who made me realise
what it was like to be liked by a teacher. Unlike other classes – for example
Maths (which I dreaded more than a chipkali)
– I always looked forward to her class. She left such an impact on me – that till
date even though I don’t remember much else from 5th grade. I do
remember her – and I miss her. Her husband served in the Indian Army and a year
later she left too.
Status- I lost her.

Bijli – My actual best friend –I
call her bijli because when we were together we were like a thunderstrike –
only she was the light and I was the sound (always late and not that welcome) –
she bedazzled everyone and I went by unnoticed. In short she was the pretty one
and I was the one who people made friends with to get to the pretty girl. Well,
that never really affected our friendship as such for I had made peace with it subconsciously
even before I was mature enough to even realise it for myself. The first
setback to our friendship was when a teeny tiny sliver of attention paved its
way past the phenomenon called bijli- and came to me. Things were never the same again - only because I had managed to steal her thunder.

Status- she lost me.

Abc -Another best friend - A pretty Bong babe who hailed from Kolkata -she was dusky and had mysterious eyes - She must have been a year or
two older than me. I met her on a swing set in the local doctor’s compound.I
was there because mom had to collect some medicines for my nani and she was there because somebody in her family was suffering
from depression.
And I remember this part distinctly because I didn’t know what
depression was and she had to explain it to me over and over again and it still
hadn’t made much sense to me. Anyway what did we kids know about depression? And
we ended up being friends – or so I believed- what I didn’t know back then was
that besides giving me the verbal definition of depression abc was going to give me my the first practical
on it too. And a decade and more down the line I made the mistake of introducing her to
a guy I really really liked and rest they say is history (you are welcome to
read between the lines by the way).

Status – she lost me.

MTL (My true love)- Corny right?
Relax and be thankful I am not calling him my soulmate ;-) I have not been
incredibly lucky love wise either. But this one person changed my whole world-
nothing else mattered to me- as long as I knew that he was by my side- like
everyone else we too had grand plans for future and stuff- I read his horoscope
before mine but what did I know that God was still holding his magnifying glass
and I was still his favourite ant. Despite the true love and all – it ended.

Sometimes I shouted, sometimes I
cried,

onetime he cheated, onetime I
lied,

We both once made tall claims

But in the end - our love
died.

Status- we lost each other.

I did not mean to bitch – I did not mean to hurt anyone – I just meant to let it out as I have never once spoken about it before.

(for despite whatever happened- these were the most powerful impacts in my life and I don’t think I’d ever forget any one of these people come what may- I know I highlighted the bad stuff first in some cases – but THAT STILL DOES NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT THESE PEOPLE HAVE GIVEN ME SOME OF THE BEST MEMORIES OF MY LIFE- and if not for them my life could have been pretty- very – dull. I loved them truly and I know at times they did too – it just did not last L but things happen and we move on.. So it was not my intention to take any one of them on a guilt-trip. These are all wonderful people and I know that sometimes they miss me too!)